Chapter Text
“Bros, slow down!” Raph barks from where he’s trailing behind them, struggling to keep up as they all sprint over the rooftops.
Donnie spares a glance back from his spot leading to give a smirk, “not a chance, Raphael! If we slow down, we might lose them!” he looks back towards his target and raises his wrist to confirm with his map, “they’ve caused enough damage already, three stores have been hit before this one!”
When Donnie picked up the radio chatter about the mutant the first time, the turtles hadn’t been too worried. I mean, the store was destroyed, but they were after Draxum! They didn’t have time! The second time they rushed out but the mutant was already gone, and same with the third. Donnie is determined to find them today, and when the call came through he all but dragged them all out of the lair, Leo’s still crooked mask a testament to how fast he moved.
“We’ll get them this time, buddy,” Raph grunts as he vaults over a vent unit, “but we can’t rush in.”
Mikey understands both of them, and he knows both perspectives have a lot of reasoning behind them. Donnie’s frustrated, he’s not gotten us there fast enough two times now so he wants this over and he wants it over fast. Raph, Mikey knows he’s trying to keep them safe and make this go smoothly. He wants to work with Donnie but rushing in Leo style is not Raph’s favorite thing to do.
As Donnie speeds up again (that soft shell speed is insane! ) Raph gives a low groan, but Mikey notices the slight increase in his speed to more match Donnie. The map on Donnie’s wrist starts to beep, the light marker blinking faster as they grow closer, though Mikey is pretty sure they could have figured that out on their own. The sounds of breaking glass and screaming metal is plenty to let them know their target is still in the hardware store up ahead.
Mikey grins as they near the building, bouncing around his brothers with small giggles. As they jump over to the next building, Mikey sprints to the edge of the roof before launching himself into the air, spreading his arms out and feeling the wind in his face as he flips a couple of times, tucking into more of a ball and leading with his shoulder to land on the concrete and roll forward. He laughs a couple times and he pops back upright, bouncing on his toes and shoving off to keep running.
He gives no warning before leaping up towards Raph and shoving off of his shell, just enough extra oomph to give him double his normal jump height and allow for a total of five front flips before he has to get his feet beneath him to land, crouching for just a moment before popping up and grinning, waiting just a moment longer before taking back after his family.
He’s done flips and little tricks as long as he can remember, especially before any fight or sparring session. They seem to help clear his head, sort of getting him in the zone and centering his focus. For Mikey, his flips and bouncing and general “razzmatazz” are the same thing as Raph reloading his arms before going to swing some heavy hits, or how Leo throws around really bad puns to keep himself focused, or how Donnie analyzes absolutely everything around him during fights. Razzmatazz is just his own personal fighting tradition, one could say.
Just for good luck, Mikey does one last flip onto the last rooftop, landing in a crouch right beside Raph who’s steely blue eyes are taking in every bit of information he can absorb from this place.
“Alright, take it easy and ninja stealth till I give the signal, got it?” Raph instructs, reaching a hand out to snag Leo before he could bound past him and giving a sharp glare until Leo shrugs.
“Whatever you say, mi hermano,” Leo grins as Raph puts him down, lowering his stance and giving a wink to Mikey before darting into the shadows and vanishing. Mikey barely stifles a laugh before following his blue-banded brother, having to look anywhere but at Raph who’s forehead and neck veins are popping so much Mikey’s worried his red-banded brother is about to burst a blood vessel.
They never outright say it, and Leo of all of them would never admit it, but Mikey knows him and the twins all only truly use the ‘stick to the shadows’ ninja move that dad taught them for one thing. And that one thing is to absolutely torment their oldest brother. Sure, they still use it for missions and it’s amazingly helpful! Mikey has mastered it the most on missions or any truly practical use, but Leo is the king of making Raph nearly explode.
Mikey glances back as Donnie follows his twin into the shadows before Raph moves, and the look only keeps getting better as his eyes start to slightly bug out of his head as he makes himself take a deep breath, finally following behind them with a grumbled, “my signal, wait for my signal so I gotta be in there to give the signal.”
Mikey follows them, willing himself to disappear into the shadows as he moves to the side of the building. He glances over the whole building as he stops by Donnie, bumping into his brother's shoulder as he spots an open window to slide through halfway up the fire escape, motioning for Donnie to follow since even with his battle shell he’ll still be slim enough to fit through the opening. Mikey glances around as he reaches the open window, making sure there’s no eyes on their entrance before slipping through as silently as possible.
His first foot lands without a problem, not so much as a dust cloud rising to warn of his presence, but as he shifts his weight and leans his shell through the opening his footing seems a lot less sure than he had thought it was. He feels himself start to pitch over sideways, the world almost seeming to spin for just a moment as he shoots his hand to grab the window frame before his shoulder could knock into the wall and make enough noise to get him spotted. He takes a slow, almost shuddering breath in as he gets his other foot planted, being certain this one is firmly on the floor before finally letting go of the window.
Ok, that wasn’t right? I usually stick my landings! Must’ve missed something moving on the landing? Maybe something slick? That must be it.
As Donnie climbs through behind, his brows furrow as he glances at Mikey, tilting his head in question and waiting for some kind of explanation. Thankfully, Mikey is saved from having to respond by a bag of concrete mix gone airborne and exploding against the wall just over their heads.
They both crouch lower and hold their breath, not wanting concrete dust where it absolutely does not belong, especially before a fight and a long walk home. Mikey knows that Donnie doesn’t even have his inhaler with him, so if he did inhale the dust and starts to struggle to breathe, there’d be real trouble.
Mikey feels adrenaline start to course through his body, everything seeming sharper and his hands starting to tremble just slightly as he creeps forward. He leans against the railing of their landing, slowly lifting his head to find the mutant and figure out if it had been an aimed throw. As he gets a good look at the lower floor, he finds a mess of broken construction equipment thrown into heaps before finding the mutant staring into space, facing the other direction from him and Donnie.
The fact he doesn’t have eyes staring into his soul proves to him that it hadn’t been an aimed attack and rather a lucky shot, a wildly thrown bag of concrete mix just somehow landing above them. With that shot, they might have to worry less about the obviously impressive strength, and more about the oddly amazing luck this mutant has.
As Mikey gives a thumbs up to Donnie, confirming it wasn’t aimed, he slides back from the railing and back out of sight. He takes a second to pull himself up into a more stable and prepared crouch, Donnie following suit and crouching right behind his left shoulder as they prepare for Raph’s signal to start wrapping up this mess. As Mikey adjusts his weight, though, he has to dart a hand out to catch himself on the floor, the world deciding at that very moment to cha cha real smooth and go to the left. It takes just a moment for the world to stop tilting, everything coming back into balance after just a few seconds. Once he’s sure it won’t decide to go to the right, you know, keeping things balanced, Mikey pushes himself up from his hunched position and slides a leg back, ready to dart forward.
The dust has to have gotten into my lungs, that must be it. Again, it’s got to be nothing.
He only has to wait a few seconds longer before a bright glow of red comes from the boxes across the way, revealing Raph’s hiding spot as both him and Leo dart forward, Raph not hesitating to give the signal as Leo screams, “aww yeah! I haven’t had a constructive fight in days!”
“Leo, one more bad pun and I’m locking you out of ALL game systems for the rest of the week!” Donnie hollers in reply, his bō staff glowing with energy as he leaps down towards the mutant to meet his twin. As Raph and Leo both dart in for hits and fall back, Donnie swings with his staff blazing forward, rocket boost giving it insane speed that is somehow only knocked away haphazardly by the mutant, throwing Donnie to the side where he lands with a short grunt before rolling to jump back to his feet.
Mikey takes the opening his brothers are leaving after Donnie to start swinging his kusari-fundo, an orange glow speeding up the chains as the weight begins to cackle, the sound followed rapidly by Mikey’s “whoop!” as he flips into the air, his weapon swinging down to wrap around the mutant before Mikey brings his arms up as hard as he can, flipping the now restrained villain over his head as he starts his descent and swinging them around before so much as a squawk passes their lips, the sound being cut short as they go slamming into a stack of crates on the other side of the room.
Mikey rolls with his landing, bringing his weapon back to his side and watching the mutant for a moment before the lack of motion solidifies his win. “Got him by surprise, bros!” he calls out, a grin spreading across his cheeks, “out cold!”
“Awesome job Mikey!” Raph beams, pumping a fist in the air as he walks to his little brother's side, “ya found the perfect opening, that was exactly the patience pops and I was mentioning last training session!”
Mikey grins before giggles erupt from his chest as his brother’s baseball mit of a hand lands on his head, patting him affectionately in the Older Brother way that Mikey is overly familiar with. He feels a round of happy chirps rise in his chest as he leans into his brother, tucking his weapon back into his belt before the sound of sirens approaching the building cuts the moment short.
“Alright, mis hermanos!” Leo exclaims, leaping up to the window landing Mikey had come in from and tucking his blades away, “I believe that’s our sign to leave, vamos!”
Raph nods, giving Mikey one last proud smile before settling his hands around Mikey’s waist and shoving upward, giving the perfect lift for him to reach the landing easily and gracefully. Or at least, that would be the case if Mikey’s head didn’t choose that exact moment to start spinning worse than those awful teacups at Alberto Land.
As he reaches a hand out to catch the landing, already having missed the foot placement by a mile, his fingers slip right off and he loses his grip. He starts to fall backwards, giving a startled, “Leo!” as he feels the air start to brush past his face.
Just as he thinks he’s going to fall away completely, already squeezing his eyes shut and tensing to meet the concrete floor, Leo’s hand darts out to catch his wrist and yank him back onto the landing, Mikey flying into the slider’s plastron, knocking them both over backwards.
Mikey just barely feels the hand wrapped around his head until he tries to look up, his movement being entirely restricted by his older brother’s protective grasp.
“Leo, you can let me go now?” Mikey falters, trying to wiggle free of his brother's iron grip, “we gotta go, I’m fine.”
Leo glances down at Mikey for a moment, his browline furrowed and an uncharacteristic frown plastered across his face before he shakes his head, tucking Mikey closer to his chest before pushing himself upright and climbing through the open window.
Mikey holds onto his older brother, keeping his arms and legs wrapped around his shell to make it easier to move, and Leo jumps from the fire escape to the next rooftop over before crouching back down, waiting for the other two to join them. He seems to think for a moment, his face screwing up and creasing in the way it does when he has a tough problem to solve, and he takes a short breath in before looking down at Mikey and softly points out, “you aren’t fine. Mikey, when did you start feeling dizzy and lightheaded?”
Oh no, serious brother mode activated.
“Leo, it’s really nothing, I just didn’t anticipate being tossed that time, that’s all!” Mikey urges, waving his hands before trying again to squirm from his brother's grip. Sure, he started to sweat before the fight even started and maybe his hands have been shaking for a while, but he’s fine!
Leo watches for a moment longer before loosening his grip just enough for Mikey to wiggle free, landing feet first on the roof with his hands raised in a flourish before turning back to Leo, starting to dip into a mock bow to prove just how fine he is. But the world for some reason continues to spin long after he’s certain he’d stopped turning, and he only has a couple more seconds before the world takes on a dark hue and pitches him towards the ground.
“Mikey!” Leo cries, darting forward to catch the box turtle's head as he plummets down towards the concrete, tucking him back against his chest as he rocks back onto his heels. He takes a moment to catch his breath before settling down into a sitting position, cradling Mikey in his lap as he starts to watch for his other brothers.
When he finally spots the flash of red and purple coming over the next rooftop he raises his arm to give a short wave, gesturing down towards Mikey before pulling him closer, gathering his whole body in his lap and curling around him.
Raph gives a short smile to Leo before his eyes drop and lock onto their youngest brother’s crumpled form, his face folding to reveal what they all know as pure panic as he leans forward and doubles his speed, vaulting over the few heating units and laundry wires dotted across his direct path before bounding to their rooftop, landing with a muffled boom before hurrying closer and kneeling beside Leo.
“What happened to ‘im?” Raph asks as he settles beside his brothers and starts running an extremely gentle hand across his baby brother's face.
Donnie stops beside Raph before giving a sigh, glancing to his wrist-screen and stating, “well it has been hours since he has last consumed anything, my hypothesis is that his blood sugar dropped more rapidly than we predicted it would.”
“We’ll get him to the lair and get some sugars in him,” Leo says, gently handing Mikey’s crumpled form to Raph before pushing himself off of the ground, quickly brushing his hands off on his thighs before turning in the direction of home and starting to walk, “vamos, we can’t do anything standing in the late night air. The cold will make it worse and might get him sick.”
Raph nods, shifting his brother until he is happy with his position and then standing himself, following Leo in the direction of home. He keeps a gentle pace, careful to not jostle his baby brother too much as they move to the nearest sewer entrance, glancing down to Mikey’s face before tucking his head closer to his plastron and heaving a sigh. It seems to be turning into a very long day.
Mikey utters a low groan as the world starts to come back into focus, his head pounding and heart soon joining in as it starts to race. It takes a moment for him to get his thoughts to cooperate and form a single file line in his head instead of a multi-layer cat herd, but once he can finally form coherent thoughts he winces.
My blood sugar must’ve dropped. Oh boy don’t tell me.
Mikey glances next to the bed he’s laying on to find Leo leaning back in a chair, his blade laid across his lap as he meticulously cleans the edge in the way he only ever does when he’s extremely worried, or preparing to have a serious conversation with one of his family members.
With Mikey’s luck, this time it’s likely both. Which means a lot of talking.
Mikey debates just closing his eyes again and trying to go back to sleep, who knows maybe next time he wakes up it’d be someone else beside the bed, but before he can even blink Leo’s eyes dart up from his task and lock with Mikey’s, the piercing emerald green taking on a steely look before he lifts his head, seeming to stare through Mikey’s very soul in a search for answers to unvoiced questions.
Mikey barely suppresses a shudder at the stripping look, letting a small smile creep onto his face before muttering, “hey, Leon. Guess I needed a nap, huh?”
Leo watches him for just a second longer before sighing, lifting his free hand to rub at his face before muttering, “Mikey, that was lower than usual, why didn’t you say anything? You were almost in the red zone, you know how dangerous that can be for you.”
Mikey ducks his head down towards the opening of his shell, avoiding Leo’s piercing stare in hopes to maybe not be read like an open book before whining, “I didn’t realize it was that bad, everything moved so quick. And besides,” he lifts his arms in a wide gesture before glancing back at Leo, “do I really need to stop in the middle of a fight to call for a juice box?”
“Yes!” Leo exclaims, setting his ōdachi aside on the table before turning his whole body to face Mikey, “buddy your blood sugar is not something to be taken lightly. We’re lucky you passed out after the fight, you could have dropped from the landing! And I mean we’re pretty good at catching you with no warning but that isn’t something to test like that. That could have ended horribly!”
He pauses for a moment, his eyes lighting up slightly before he leans back in his chair and sighs, rubbing at his face for a moment before leaning forward, his arms lowered to rest on his thighs, “Mikey, just please be careful. I put you on an iv after the shot this time to try and give you a boost. I know you get pretty stir crazy in here,” he gestures around to the bland and overly white med bay, “I mean, this ain’t exactly Mikey style, am I right?”
Mikey hesitates just a second before letting a sheepish grin creep onto his face, “yeah, needs a lot more color and pizzazz to get the stamp of approval, that’s for sure.”
Leo laughs and leans in to rub a hand on his brother’s head, lowering his hand to Mikey’s shoulder before suggesting, “hey, maybe that can be your next project? Painting the ceiling so we have something interesting to look at when we’re all inevitably stuck in here? If you’re up for the challenge, of course.”
“Really?” Mikey gasps, lifting his gaze to meet his brother’s eyes again before starting to glance around the room, “that would give me such a humongous canvas! I mean there’s so much space on the ceiling! I could do the huge mural I’ve been planning! I would have done it ages ago but I never had the space.”
Leo laughs as his brother starts to rock where he’s now sat upright, the sound gradually growing looser and warmer before he lets out a small sigh of relief that Mikey had bounced back so quickly. He glances over to the tests Donnie had run, sitting in a neat pile on the table, but he quickly turns his attention back to his little brother, who has already begun rambling about colors and materials he would need for such a huge project.
Mikey spares a short glance to where Leo has been staring, but the font on the papers is too small and boring to catch his attention, too many numbers and definitely more Donnie’s thing than Mikey’s. Maybe a project he forgot in here, I’ll have to remind him about it later if Leo doesn’t run it to him.
Mikey starts flapping his hands, something he’s picked up from Donnie, and as the vision of the mural fills his head he feels a little less worried about the inevitable lecture he is no doubt about to receive from mother hen Raph as soon as he leaves the med bay. For now, he can plan art that would give this place less of a bland feel and give them some much needed Mikey pizzazz when it came to being stuck in here.